Sunflowers

My favourite flowers are sunflowers. I remember driving in the Prairies when I was sixteen years old and falling in love with sunflowers for the first time in my life. It amazed me how fields and fields of sunflower heads would all be facing the same way. I couldn’t understand that complexity yet was captured by the bright color and uniformity of the fields. Yellow is not a my favourite color at all but there’s something about these flowers that just light me up.

I wondered why the sunflowers all faced the same way. I looked it up on the internet and it says that only while the sunflowers are in the bud stage do they follow the sun. This is called heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This motion is performed by motor cells in the flexible segment of the stem, just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the blooming stage is reached. Sunflowers in the blooming stage are not heliotropic anymore, meaning they won’t follow the sun. The stem has frozen, typically in an eastward orientation. The stem and leaves lose their green color.

I went to a memorial service on Friday and there were roses everywhere that represented the love the gentleman had for roses he tended. I thought about my own life and if that were me in the coffin what I would want those around me to be surrounded with. Sunflowers being my favourite flower, I would want to have them everywhere so those coming and hearing why I love sunflowers could be ministered to.

Every time I think about the sunflower I think about Christians and how we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. Sunflowers follow the sun…. we as Christians should follow THE SON. How easy our lives would be if we kept our eyes and hearts turned to where they are supposed to be for daily growth. For the sunflowers, once it reaches the bud stage, the stem stiffens and it doesn’t follow the sun any longer. I know that I can do this in my Christian walk where I get comfortable and don’t think I have any more growing to do so I allow my “stem” to stiffen and not follow THE SON and trust him to replenish and sustain me. I get caught up in a rut or a disappointing time in my life and can’t seem to find my way out to being a light once again… or more importantly, see the light.

As I stood at the graveside on Friday, I thought hard about my own life and my choice of sunflowers to represent my life. I want to be a person that daily seeks God and trusts Him and Him alone for my sustenance. I want my life to represent my walk as I stand with other Christians like the sunflowers in these fields…. Standing together facing THE SON … so we can have our seeds harvested. We use sunflower seeds for so many different sources of food in our life and I want to grow as a Christian so that when I have my seeds fall that they can be a source of spiritual food and life for others. I want my life to make a difference. It’s not going to happen if I just get to the bud stage and allow the stem to stiffen and die. My prayer is that those around me see where I turn my eyes and heart to and see me walk in it.

God says in Isaiah 45:22: "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."

A song I am reminded of when I reflect on what I wrote:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

(To hear a beautiful rendition of this song click on the link below to see a youtube video singing this song. This woman from Hillsongs has such an amazing voice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2nCYklL_O8 )

Look to THE SON... not the sun.